Looking back at 2009

In a brief editorial to the latest Phasmid Study Group Newsletter I said that for phasmatologists it had been a good year with several major papers (I will say something about the partial review of Phyllium by Hennemann et al soon), a field guide to the Australian stick and leaf insects by Paul Brock (I reviewed it here), and a number of new species bought into culture.

Personally it's also been good, in particular a trip to Costa Rica but also e-Biosphere, work on the Blattodea SpeciesFile, visiting the SpeciesFile team and a new job at the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

In the blogosphere (bugosphere?) we have seen new offers from Erica McAlister (Curator of Diptera's Blog) and a student blog from the entomologists at the University of Illinois (I went there this year too).

It seems the Amateur Entomologists' Society had a good year too.

So despite what you may hear or feel, there are still some good, new and exciting things happening in the world of insects.